And one



Feb. 14, 1928. 1,659,088

R. L. DOWDALL ET AL GRAIN CLEANER AND DUST REMOVER FOR ELEVATORS Filed Feb.15 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Iz/vanlm: 1L Uowdall, Clyde 0. Palmer Feb. 14, 1928. 1,659,088

R. .L.'DowpALL ET AL GRAIN CLEANERAND DUST REMOVER FOR ELEVATORS Filed Feb.15. 192s s Sheets-She et s Patented Feb. 14, 1928."

nor L. 'nownALL, or ,SABETHA, a sreno ts or rwo-rnrnns To THIRD 'ro SAID PALMER.

Guam CLEANER AND DU'srBEMovn-Ryroa unanimous.

Application filedlebruary This inventionrelates to device for removing the dust from grain elevators, terminals and 1nills,an d has for its nain'object to provide aniinproved apparatus for. collooting. grainand any other grain straoted from the main body of. grain and epa ting he same cloa-ning' the n ainbodyiotz'the. grain as it is elevated, discharging the dust andv chart, and collecting and saving the lightand broken particles of grain which are valuable as chicken and. stock feed. Another object is to provide adevice of thecharacter specified thatwill eii'ectively. remove the dustlfroin the pit,head, leg, belt conveyor discharge, or any other place in the elevator or mill Where dust has accumulated. A further object 7 is: to provide a device that shall work entirely by suction and'inay be readily attached to the elevator head, and from which conduits may be extended to various sources ofdust ac- Other more specific objects are to provide a means for regulating the strength of the suction at diflerent points, to provide iniproved means whereby the light and detective grainsalvaged from the main body of grain may be Continuously dis? charged without impairing the suction, to

provide an improved grain cleaninganddust cuniulation.

renrovinghood located within the head of the elevator legwvhich shallbeadjustable as to length so as to lit different lengths of head, and is preferablyequipped with a'hood regulator or valve to increaseor decrease the suction at the mouth of thehood; and-to provide a generally similar hood located within a collecting and separating chamber, in which tl1edust,andchail are separated from the light particles of grain, which hood is preferablyequipped with asuction. regulating valve which may be set, according to the kind and condition. of grain undergoing treatment, to createtheproper suction for drawing ofi'the' dustand chat? without taking the Y defective grainwith it.

Still other objects and attendant advantages olithe invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art as the same becomes better understood'by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein We have illu trated a practical and" approved embodithegligltt and broken particles Of.-

that may be from the dust, thus 15,.. 1926: Serial No.'88, 179.

inent of the inventionas applied to a double leg elevat'or, and in whiche Fig, I a side elevation, partly broken away and in section, or the complete appeatua" adapted for a double legelevator;

's- 3 i a i l" ect n through, t e to collecting chamber on the line 3+3 of Fig.1; Fig, lisa verticalcentral section through the grain cleaning and dust removing hoodf located inthe head, opposite the discharge of the grain elevating buckets; i

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectionalview throughthe dischargevalv'e ofth e collecting chamber; a c

F 6 isan enlarged side elevation or a part 01? the opcratingmechanism of the. dischargc valve shown in Fig, 5., viewed in the direction of the arrow 6 of Fig; 3 ;,and

Fig. 7 is a view of part of the operating inechanisn'rof the discharge valve shown. in

Fig aviewed in the direction of the arrow Tof Figa Referr ng to as an entirety the vertical elevator leg, 11

the head thereof, and 12 and 13 the rear and front vertical passageways of the leg, which-travel respectively the ascending and descending limbs of the usual bucket conveyorl tru'nningover a sprocket l5 journaled in the headlll, by which conveyor the. grain elevated from the pit and discharged into the latter. Ina double le'gelevator, suchas is'illustratedin the plan view, Fig. 2, the above described parts are in duplicate located side by side. Figs. 1 and 2 also illustrate a typical drive for thebucket conveyors,th e sar'ne comprising an electric inotorv 16 connected by pulleys 17-, 18, and a belt '19 to a shaft 20 extending transversely through both elevator legs. The shaft 20 is connected by sprockets 21, 22iand achain 23 (Fig, 1) to 'an'upper shaft 24 likewise extending. through the two heads, and havin'g fast thereon the conveyor drive sprocketslf.

On that side of each head which is opposite the grain discharge from the bucket conveyor is located the. usual distributor hopper 25 and tube 26; and directly above the hopper 25 and .for the. mostv art located within the head 11 is to thehead a grain c eaningand AND' cxzvnnratmnmor conconma, ansas, As enonen BOWMAN, or CONCORDI'A, KAnsAsnNn our g. Qisatop plan view ofthe same, as

the drawings, 10 designates ames ed to anfeccentric wrist pin63'onthe pro jecting end of the fan shaft. At each complete rotation of the fan shaft, the valve of one: tooth of preferably opposite the descending leg of the conveyor, and the other end of which enters the corresponding'side of the collector and separator 38, preferably at a'point on the same level with the pipe 37 As shown in Fig. 2, the suction pipes 37 and 64enter theseparator' casing 38 through ports at right angles to each other and adjacentto a corner of the separator. This. makes it possible to control the relative suctions exerted through the pipes 37" and 6a by means of a single" valve which, in the 'instanceshown, consists of'a vertically disposed valve disc 65 (see Fig- 3) mounted on a vertical tangential hinge rod 66 that extends through the top wall of the casing 38 just within a corner of the latter and is equipped on its upper end with a horizontal operating arm 67. adapted to be swung to a position closing the pipe 64 by a pull spring 68, and to a position closing the pipe 37 by a pull cord 69 connected to the end of the arm 67 and extending over a guide pulley 7 0 and thence downwardly toth'e work floor of the elevator. Manifestly, by means of adjustment of the pull cord, the valve 65 may be set at any intermediate position so as to permit equalor unequal suctions through the pipes 37 and 64. In situations where the body of grain carries but little dust andchail, the auxiliary pipe 64 may be wholly or nearly closed; while with grain carrying a relatively large amount of dust and chaff, the valve 65 will be so manipulated as to permit suction throughthe pipe 6& in addition to the main'suction through the pipe 37'.

In practice, the dockage valve 49 will be so set, depending upon the kind and character of thegrain treated, that dust, chaif and husks only willbedrawn oil through the dockage hood and fan, While the grain particles will be collected in and intermittently discharged from the hopper 53. The fan discharge pipe 45 communicates freely with the atmosphere, so that there is no back pressure'on the fan, thereby reducing the power required todrive the same as compared with known devices whereinthe fan discharge pipe leads into a dust collecting or settling chamber.

The dust collecting chamber 38, in addition to the uses and functions already described, may be additionally employed for the collection of dust from other parts of the elevator or mill, andin Fig.1 we have illustrated some ofsuch additionaluses. For instance, 71 indicates ;a--belt conveyorfused to 1 c dnveyvand discharge grain, intouthe hopperf'ifloi' an automatic scale, bin or sheller; and 73 designates a hood located directl woverthe discharge end of the conveyoif'Zl and the liow'ipassage into the hopperiiz, thehood 73 being connected with the vacuum chamberSS by apipe 7st. The

lower end 'oithe pipe 7 i is equipped with a liinged walve 75 which may be open more or less 'tocontrol thestrength of the suction,

"and retained in position by a valve handle 6 and' cdoperating locking segment '77, or other valve controlling means. 7 8' indicates ai-ln'anch pipe on the pipe 74 that may lead to any point where dust accumulates in the mill or elevator, said pipe being equipped with a shut-oil valve 79 to place the same out or commission when not required;

' At 80 we have also shown an additional suction pipe communicating with the "vacuum chamber 38 and-equipped with a shut off valve 81', to which pipe 80 maybeconnected a hose 82 equipped at its lower end with a suctionmouth 83 to serve as-a vacuum sweeper. It will thus be seen that our improved cleaning device is adapteclto 1emove the dust not only from the pit',xleg, head and belt conveyor discharge, but also from any other place where dust may accumulate in the elevator or mill, since it operates entirely by suction, and suitable conduits may readily be runirom the separating or vacuum chamber 38 to various places of dust accumulation, and there may be as many of these conduits as required, providingthe blower has 'suflicient power to create the necessary vacuum in the collecting or separatingchamber.

" The attachment-is so constructedthatit may readily be taken apart' and introduced through the cupola window of the elevator and occupies unused space in the cupola.

In its practical operation, the apparatus driesand ventilates heated, damp or musty grain as it is'elevated, thus making a better grain and raising the test.

The suction at the mouth of thehood 27 serves mainly to clean the grain itself, carrying over the dust, chafl and light'and defective particles of grain, while the auxiliary suction through the pipe 64, when employed, serves mainly to create an updraft I of air through the leg and thus clean the pit, leg and head ofdust. As stated, where the grain is damp, or for other reasons cars ries very little dust, the auxiliary suction through pipe 64 may readily be out out, and the full force of the suction applied to the cleaning of the grain itself;

The strength of the initial suction on the grain at the mouth of the hood 27 may be nicely regulated by a proper setting of the valve 32, by which suction may be applied in any strength desired under any kind of grain as it is discharged from the buckets.

of elbows are required; it represents anv economy in initial cost on account of its simplicity, and it represents an economy in power, mainly due to the tact that there is no back pressure on the fan or blower, and the several regulating valves may be set at any position without throttling the flow of air. By means of the described discharge valve, the suction in the collecting and separating chamber is always maintained unimpaired while the collected grain is being drawn off.

Still other mechanical advantages of the apparatus, not necessary to here particularize, will be apparent to persons "familiar with the uses and functions of grain cleaners of this general type; and it will also be manifest that the structural details may be considerably varied without destroying the principle of action, or lessening the uses and advantages of the device. Hence, we do not limit the invention to the details of structure and arrangement herein presented. for purposes of illustratiombut reserve all such variations and modifications fall within the spirit and purview of the appended claims.

We claim 1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with the leg and head of a grain elevator, of a dockage collecting and separating chamber, one-way suction conduit connecting said head and chamber, a fan located externally of said chamber, and a second suction conduit, independent of said first-named suction conduit, connecting said chamber with the section side of said tan.

2. In an apparatus of the character descsibed. the combination with the leg and head of a grain elevator, of a hood in said head formed with an open lower end across which the grain discharged in said head flows, a fan communicating on its suction side with the upper portion of said hood, and valve in said hood regulating the suction area of said lower open end.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with the leg and head of a grain elevator, of a hood in said head formed with an open lower end and an inclined side onto which the grain discharged in said head is thrown, a fan communicating on its suction sideewith the upper portion of said hood, and a plate mounted on said inclined side and adjustable lengthwise oi the latter, whereby to adapt said inclined side to varying points of grain discharge in dilierent heads.

4- In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with the leg and head of grain elevator, oil a hood in said head formed with an open lower end, a valvc in said hood regulating the efl'ective suction area o'l said lower open end, a doclc age collecting and separating chamber, a pipe connecting the upper portion of said hood with the upper portion of said chamber, and a fan communicating on its suction side with said chamber.

In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with the leg and head or a grain elevator, of a hood in said head formed with an open lower end, a valve regulating the effective suction area of said lower open end, a dockage'collecting and separating chamber, a pipe connecting the upper portion of said hood with the upper portion of said chamber, a dockage hood in said chamber formed with an open lower end, a tan connnunicating on its suction side with said dockage hood, and grain discharging means in said chamber operative to continuously seal the latter against the atmosphere.

(3. In combination with the subject-matter of claim 5, a dockage control valve on said hood operative to regulate the effective suction area of the mouth or said hood.

7 In combination with the subjectanatter of claim 5, a dock-age control valve consisting of a plate hinged at its upper end to and parallel with a side wall of said hood with its lower end adapted to swing across the mouth of said hood and thereby regulate the effective suction area of the latter.

8. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with i dockage collecting and separating chamber formed with a hopper bottom terninating in valve seat, of a dockage hood mounted in said chamber, a fan communicating on its suction side with the upper end of said hood, a valve in said valve seat operating to deliver successive charges of dockagc grain collected in said hopper and seal the latter against the at mosphere, and mechanism for actuating said discharge'valve from the shaft of said tan.

9. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with the leg and head of a grain elevator, of a dockage collecting and separating chamber, a fan connected on suction side with said chamber, independent suction conduits connecting ditill) ferent points on said head directly with the upper portion of said chamber, and a valve for controlling the relative suctions exerted through said conduits.

10. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with the leg and head of a grain elevator, of a dockage collecting and separating chamber, a fan connected on its suction side with said chamber,

10 a hood in said head, a pipe connecting the upper portion of said chamber, a

upper portion of said hood directly with the second pipe connecting a side of said head directly with the upper portion of said chamr her, a suction regulating valve in said hood,

and a valve in said chamber for controlling the relative suctions exerted through said pipes.

ROY L. DOWDALL. CLYDE C.

Feb. 14, 1928.

T. ELLIOTT BOLSTER SPRING SUSPENSION MECHANISM Filed July 22. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 

